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By
Sage Cho
- May 22, 2025
Attempted Murder
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Court
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Daily Stories
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Non-Fatal Shooting
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The second day of an attempted murder trial quickly turned tumultuous on May 22 as defendant Phillip McCoy repeatedly disobeyed court orders and disrupted proceedings. In the end, he grudgingly accepted a plea deal instead of facing a trial.
McCoy, 33, initially faced 31 charges, including attempted first- and second-degree murder and assault, firearm use in a violent crime, reckless endangerment, home invasion, and related conspiracy and firearm violations for allegedly breaking into a man’s home and attempting to carry out a premeditated attack on him with co-defendant Brian Strawder, 33.
The altercation is believed to have occurred after the man met co-defendant Kateira Womack, 32, at Horseshoe Casino in Baltimore and invited her to a home he shared with another woman in the 800 block of N. Eutaw Street. McCoy and Strawder allegedly entered the residence and opened fire. The man who invited Womack into his home fled up the stairs and was uninjured in the gunfire, but the woman sustained two gunshot wounds to her thigh.
As previously reported, investigators reviewed surveillance footage and deduced the trio likely began planning to target the man while still at Horseshoe Casino.
The hearing began with an amended plea offer from the prosecution. For first-degree assault with a firearm, the prosecution offered McCoy an aggregate sentence of 25 years, suspending all but eight, followed by five years of supervised probation. McCoy would be ineligible for parole during the first five years of his sentence. Per the terms of the deal, he would also have to submit bi-yearly reports to the police in accordance with the Maryland Gun Offender Registry Act, maintain no contact with the victims, and stay away from the incident location.
Jurors, who were selected the day prior and had been waiting for over an hour for trial to proceed, remained in the juror room as McCoy deliberated whether to accept the offer. Though he eventually accepted, proceedings soured due to his unruly behavior.
McCoy repeatedly expressed dissatisfaction with his defense attorney, Natalie A. Finegar, claiming she pushed him to accept the offer and saying she “wouldn’t try” to represent him to the fullest of her abilities should his case go to trial. Finegar maintained she was merely fulfilling her judicial duty to inform him what she thought was his best option, but McCoy continued to repeat his grievances and told Baltimore City Circuit Court Judge Jennifer B. Schiffer he felt “like a rat on a treadmill.”
Despite claiming he would accept the deal, McCoy disrupted the hearing with long pauses, refusals to answer yes-or-no questions, and an attempt to lower his hand as the court swore him in. Judge Schiffer informed him several times to no avail that she would proceed with a jury trial if he continued to ignore her orders. At several points during proceedings, McCoy called Judge Schiffer “baby.” She warned him she could hold him in contempt of court should he fail to reign in conduct.
Co-defendant Womack pleaded guilty last November to conspiring to invade the victim’s home, accepting a sentence of 10 years, suspending all but time served.
Strawder, who was only recently deemed competent to stand trial, is slated to return to court Aug. 25 for a three-day jury trial before Judge Michael A. DiPietro.